Art in the time of recession at Franklin Street Works

Published 3:19 pm, Thursday, April 17, 2014

A scene from Nancy Davenport's "Final Inspection," on view in the exhibition "Sunken Living Room" at Franklin Street Works in Stamford.

A scene from Nancy Davenport's "Final Inspection," on view in the exhibition "Sunken Living Room" at Franklin Street Works in Stamford.

Photo: Contributed Photo

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Anya Sirota and Akoaki's "Piranesian Blingon" is view in the exhibition "Sunken Living Room" at Franklin Street Works in Stamford.

Anya Sirota and Akoaki's "Piranesian Blingon" is view in the exhibition "Sunken Living Room" at Franklin Street Works in Stamford.

Photo: Contributed Photo

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"Sunken Living Room," an exhibition the addresses the recent economic recession, is on view at Franklin Street Works in Stamford.

"Sunken Living Room," an exhibition the addresses the recent economic recession, is on view at Franklin Street Works in Stamford.

Photo: Contributed Photo

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Constantina Zavitsanos' "It was what I wanted now, 2010-2035" is view in the exhibition "Sunken Living Room" at Franklin Street Works in Stamford.

Constantina Zavitsanos' "It was what I wanted now, 2010-2035" is view in the exhibition "Sunken Living Room" at Franklin Street Works in Stamford.

Photo: Contributed Photo

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Jonah Emerson-Bell's "Utopia is Gay" is on view in the exhibition "Sunken Living Room" at Franklin Street Works in Stamford.

Jonah Emerson-Bell's "Utopia is Gay" is on view in the exhibition "Sunken Living Room" at Franklin Street Works in Stamford.

Photo: Contributed Photo

Art in the time of recession at Franklin Street Works

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In 2010, two years after earning her master's of fine arts degree, Tina Zavitsanos was knee-deep in student loan debt.

"I had such a high student loan payment -- it was more than my rent," Zavitsanos said. "I couldn't pay it."

But rather than withering under the weight of her obligation, the artist, who works in time-based sculpture, did something constructive with it.

Recording her debt -- the balance on her repayment, in hourly increments, over a three-year span -- on Xerox paper, Zavitsanos was left with the tangible representation of the money she owed. And it was staggering.

"When you have a lot of material, you make something out of it," she said. "And I had a lot of debt."

Zavitsanos is one of 24 artists featured in "The Sunken Living Room," a multimedia exhibition investigating financial crises, including the most recent economic recession. Using sculpture, video, texts, drawings, prints and photos, 24 artists tackle recession-related topics, from labor, debt and unemployment to corrupt banking practices and post-industrial urban landscapes.

The exhibition is on view at Franklin Street Works, a nonprofit contemporary art space and cafe in Stamford, through May 25.

"Through a mix of documentation, observation, allegory and autobiography, the 24 artists in this show lend unique perspectives to recent fiscal crises," Terri C Smith, Franklin Street Works' creative director, said. "Some take an individualized approach, overlaying their work with personal experiences and narratives ... others capture current events by resituating elements from cities into the gallery."

Zavitsanos took the former approach, exploring the gravity of her student loan debt in her sculpture, "It was what I wanted now: 2010-2035."

"I wanted to expand something that was being hidden from me," she said.

But Zavitsanos didn't stop there. The piece has the optical effect of continuing into the lower gallery, where another stack of papers extends from the ceiling to the floor. In this counterpart piece, "1932/1933 (it was what I wanted now.)," Zavitsanos tracks the debt of her ancestors through the Great Depression.

The object of the expanded work, Zavitsanos said, is to encourage viewers to reflect not only on the debt they have incurred, but on the ways in which they are "indebted to their family, friends and communities.

"People are always thinking about a way to get rid of debt, but I want to think about what we have," she said. "I see this as a spine."

Other artists in "The Sunken Living Room" utilize elements of derelict structures and decaying cityscapes in their work. Anya Sirota and Akoaki's "Piranesian Bling" sculptures are modeled after disused components from Detroit's abandoned Packard plant, while Beate Geissler and Oliver Sann's photo series, "the real estate," features images of vacant apartments in Chicago.

Short films that document recession-related phenomena play throughout the exhibition. Ana Pecar and Oliver Ressler's video, "In the Red," follows Strike Debt, an offshoot group of Occupy Wall Street, as they plan and execute a series of protests. In "Fe26," Kevin Jerome follows two Cleveland men who steal manhole covers and copper piping to earn a living in an unforgiving economy.

Other artists include references to the 1970s, another notable recession era. Disco is the focus of Kerry Downey's video "Nursing Disco," while workers rights and union slogans come up in Andrea Bowers' "Workers Rights Posters."

"By combining artworks from today with popular and high culture items from the past," Smith said, "the works in `The Sunken Living Room' connect shared cultural experiences with contemporary projects to explore the utopic desires and deflating exasperation of post-World War II recession economies."

Sadly, as the artists in "The Sunken Living Room" reveal, those "utopic desires" are often dashed by the economic realities. Zavitsanos' piece will remain a work in progress; she will always be in debt.

But as the artist acknowledges, she isn't the only one. It is through the recognition of this shared experience that we can rely on each other, and she said, "Change the way we think about debt."

"There are all kinds of debts, not just mine," Zavitsanos said. "I'm mad and I understand it personally, but I like to think of we rather than I."